Kisii High Court Declines to Lift Suspension of 22 University Law Students Over Exam Cheating

NAIROBI, Kenya, Sep 30– The High Court in Kisii has declined to suspend disciplinary action against 22 Kisii University law students accused of examination malpractice, allowing their suspension to remain in force pending the hearing of their petition.

Justice Paul Kipkosgei Rotich rejected an application seeking interim orders to halt the students’ suspension and prevent the university from blocking their registration for the 2026/2027 academic year.

The students are challenging a decision by the university’s School Disciplinary Committee, which found them guilty of examination malpractice and recommended their suspension for the 2026/2027 academic year.

The committee also recommended the cancellation of their Semester One 2025/2026 examination results. The university Senate subsequently upheld the recommendations and communicated its decision through letters dated April 27, 2026.

The students appealed the disciplinary decision internally but were unsuccessful.

Court documents show that 20 of the petitioners are continuing students, while two had already completed their studies.

On August 25, 2026, the students filed a motion seeking orders to suspend the disciplinary letters dated August 6 and restrain the university from preventing them from registering for the academic year, which commenced on August 28.

During the hearing on September 3, their lawyer, Marako, argued that the students would suffer significant prejudice if they were denied registration while their petition remained pending.

However, the university’s lawyer, Ochwang’i, opposed the application, questioning the practicality of granting the orders given that the students had already been suspended and their examination results cancelled.

In dismissing the application, Justice Rotich observed that the case raised issues of public interest, particularly concerning the integrity of examinations in institutions of higher learning.

The judge cautioned that granting the interim orders at this stage would effectively determine the application in the students’ favour without giving the university an opportunity to be heard.

“This Court is of the considered view that interfering with the respondent’s disciplinary process at this stage by granting the orders sought would be akin to summarily determining the application in favour of the applicants without affording the respondent a hearing. This court, therefore, respectfully declines to grant the interim orders sought,” Justice Rotich ruled.

The decision means the students’ suspension and cancellation of examination results remain in effect as the substantive petition awaits determination.

The main petition is scheduled for hearing on October 5, 2026, when the court is expected to consider the students’ broader challenge to the university’s disciplinary action.